Trump visits US troops in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving

President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to US troops in Afghanistan - his first time in the country - for the Thanksgiving holiday.

During the brief appearance at Bagram Airfield, Trump served turkey to soldiers, posed for photographs, and met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

In a speech to troops, Mr Trump said the US was in talks with the Taliban, which he said "wants to make a deal".

Trump also said the US was "substantially" reducing troop numbers.

Some 13,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan 18 years after the US intervention to oust the Taliban following the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The visit comes after a prisoner swap with the Taliban aimed at resuming peace negotiations.

Earlier this month, the Taliban freed two Western academics who had been held hostage since 2016 - American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks - in exchange for three imprisoned senior militants.

"We're meeting with them [Taliban] and we say it has to be a ceasefire and they didn't want to do a ceasefire and now they want to do a ceasefire," Mr Trump said at the base near the capital, Kabul. "I believe it will probably work out that way."

It is not clear how substantive the talks have been.